I would venture to guess that all of us have a story about someone that made a defining difference in their life. Perhaps it was a teacher, parent, grandparent, coach, or boss. Regardless of who he or she was, take a moment to sit and remember why you thought of them first—what did they do to earn this spot in your life?

Mistakes are to be expected in service situations, but knowing how to recover an angry or frustrated customer into a loyal customer is a learned art. A Customer-Focused Attitude is critical for successful service recovery.  Employees need to be trained to anticipate and identify potential problems, as well as have the experience to make decisions and to deliver skillful solutions to customer problems. The statistics below show just how important company reactions are to service loyalty. 

There seems to be some confusion around the definitions of "customer service" and "customer experience." Many organizations still think they are the same, or perhaps they recognize some of the differences, but do not understand what the overall effect of a great experience does for the customer and for their business. The function of customer service and the customer experience, which will always work congruently, are two very different business strategies.

In the service industry, awareness is a must. You have to be fully aware and fully present to give the level of service that makes people take notice and want more.  Walt Disney ~ "Do what you do SO WELL that they will want to see it again and BRING THEIR FRIENDS." Chances are your customers are doing business with some of the world's finest service organizations, and because of that, your company's service experiences will be compared. So you need to ask yourself, how do we measure up in comparison?

We have such an opportunity to make a great impression just by the attention we provide. Customers want to be noticed and heard, and if you fall short, your ongoing success, customer loyalty, and referrals to others will be at risk.

Sales is all about leading the prospective buyer to making the decision to buy your product through exploratory understanding of their needs. If these steps have been successfully executed, then the final steps are not only necessary, but they are also in keeping with the natural flow of the call. We find that for some sales people, the cost of this final step is too high. Instead, they choose a polite and perhaps "safe" approach of, "Let me know if this is something you would like to consider?" 

How do you make your customers fall in love with your business? A crucial part of any business is building and nurturing the relationship. However, today an unhappy customer has a very powerful weapon to voice their opinion- it's called social media and the web. This is why it's even more critical to create memorable experiences so that they can fall in love with your business. 

Focusing on creating excellent and memorable experiences for your customers is a business opportunity everyday. Too many businesses today fall short of this, which gives you the perfect opportunity to court and nab new customers.